RE: Documenting the user interface

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

[I'm checking mail remotely, so forgive formatting weirdness; I have no control.]
Janice Gelb wrote:

> Not sure I agree that "users will wonder" why things exist in
the user interface. I think most users buy a product to
accomplish some task and with very few exceptions, their
interest in the interface is solely related to how to use
it to accomplish that task. That's why I agree that you
don't need to describe every button, tab, field, etc. They
should only be described in the tasks in which they are
used to accomplish something.

I'll go further -- in some cases, you don't even have to exhaustively describe everything they use to accomplish something. I'd argue that if "users will wonder," that's not necessarily a bad thing. It can be a very good thing to encourage exploration and learning. 
 
Richard 

------ 
Richard G. Combs 
Senior Technical Writer 
Polycom, Inc. 
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 
303-223-5111 
------ 
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 
303-777-0436 
------ 


 
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